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Canadian National To Boost Montreal Intermodal Capacity

Canadian National plans to build a state-of-the-art intermodal terminal at its Taschereau Yard in the municipalities of Saint-Laurent and Lachine near Montreal as part of a $47 million terminal consolidation plan.

The intermodal terminal will have a high-technology automatic gate system that will significantly reduce truckers' waiting times for pickups and deliveries.The consolidation, scheduled for completion by the end of 2001, will permit CN to accommodate 30 percent more intermodal traffic at its important Montreal hub.Intermodal traffic is CN's fastest-growing business segment; intermodal volumes last year rose by 13 percent to more than 1.1 million units.Under the terminal consolidation plan, CN's Montreal intermodal operations will move from Turcot Yard near the city's inner core to Taschereau Yard, the railroad's major switching yard for carload freight in the Montreal region. Work on the new intermodal facility will start this month. Taschereau, west of Montreal's downtown, is located near major highways.The new Montreal terminal is one of three major intermodal terminal projects under way at CN. The railroad recently announced a $40-million new intermodal facility in Milton, Ont., west of Toronto, and this fall will open a new $23 million intermodal terminal in Edmonton.